For example in Baltics one of the biggest festivals are song and dance festivals held every five years (i.e Estonia) where quarter/third of the country gathers to sing and watch thousands of people dancing. Somewhere between 10% to 30% of my fellow pupils were either dancers or singers until university and there was even competitive feud between different schools about who were better dancers.
Were/are schools in your country similar?
I have been to festivals in Europe where I have seen many central and eastern european dance ensembles but not from western Europe.
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It’s pretty much nonexistent in the Netherlands. People occasionally have meetings, where they wear the old ‘klederdracht’ (the clothing that they used to wear and what we are somewhat known for), but that’s mostly older people. I don’t think the younger generations really care about it. Although it might be different in some specific regions.
Very rare, traditional music is usually only played at village fairs, traditional dances not even at those, and folk costumes, at least where I live, are practically forgotten. This is at least my experience in northern Italy, maybe in other regions the situation is different.
I was going to say *very popular* but after I read your text it might not be as big as in Estonia.
Nevertheless, I believe that choir singing (often in connection with church and the Catholic faith) is pretty big and so are dance performances.
It may be more of a Western Austrian thing, as it’s often connected to Alpine culture. You know, the whole Lederhosen thing like you may know from Bavaria.
[Example](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6EzPkqt2Rk), [example](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWKMi5T-If0)
PS: I don’t have any exact figures but afaik Austria spends quite a bit of money promoting/supporting/preserving local culture like this.
This sounds like it is a bit more serious in Estonia than here but otherwise these are relatively popular here too, especially folk dancing. It is an accepted hobby for some people, even if they are not a member of a more professional dance group. You can find regular events called “táncház” (dance house) which are basically like a salsa party but with folk dancing and usually live music.
Afaik this don’t exist in The Netherlands. I can’t even think of a typical Dutch dance.
The closest thing of a typical Dutch festival I can think of is where Dutch pop music (levenslied/ life song literally) is played. This is genre of pop music which is somewhat similar to French chanson or German schlager music. Those kind of festivals are very common and attract a lot of people.
Germany has never been very unified when it comes to culture, so folk dances and traditions vary a lot by region. I think in Bavaria, folklore fests are much more common than, say, in Saxony.
Although choir singing is not uncommon, I’d say most of them are focused on classical composition, not so much on folk songs.
Don’t think it’s very popular,though it’s part of the “spirit” of the nation.. So there are some that keep the traditions alive. Especially in some districts in norway where that kind of culture is vital. There’s is even a national championschip in that kind of things.. not only folk dance, but playing folk instruments etc.. In norway it’s called [landskapsleiken](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxhNWYTUiQQ&t=128s&ab_channel=frikar).. The “dude” in the clip is one of the dancers that danced along Alexander [Rybak](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXwgZL4zx9o&ab_channel=EurovisionSongContest) when he won the eurovision some years ago..
I was about to say dancing is non existent but I guess you could reasonably call [Lanciers](https://youtu.be/2JN2CQaJorg) a folk dance. It’s danced at most academic focused high schools (not compulsory but most people choose it) and in some compulsory basic schools, and some boarding schools. Usually you spend a few lessons of PE learning it and then you dance it at a big party towards the end of your last school year. Sometimes there’ll be a competition about which groups are the best dancers, but all I remember is everyone being drunk AF lol.
“Fællessang”, literally “together singing”, is more common, in specific contexts. Many small children start every day doing it in school, and there’s also our hobby focused boarding type of schools called efterskole and the usually adult version (without school, just hobbies) højskole sing often, with the højskole song book being a favorite to pull from, containing both religious psalms and secular modern songs. Fællessang likewise happen at funerals. Also when starting and graduating school, with the exception of university. It’s not focused on technical skill usually.
But actually *being* a dancer or choir singer as a hobby is not common and not part of any tradition as such.
Lastly we “”dance”” (walk) around the Christmas tree singing Christmas songs as part of our Christmas tradition. And some small kids sing as part of the [Lucia tradition](https://youtu.be/xFZvhE2Zy9Q).